1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to the field of lighting and/or signaling and especially automotive vehicle lighting and/or signaling. More particularly, the invention relates to a lighting and/or signaling module for an automotive vehicle.
2. Description of the Related Art
Automotive vehicles are equipped with headlamps, or headlights, intended to illuminate the road in front of the vehicle at night or in case of low visibility. These headlamps may generally be used in one of two lighting modes: a first “high beam” mode and a second “low beam” mode. The “high beam” mode allows the road far in front of the vehicle to be brightly lit. The “low beam” mode delivers more limited lighting of the road, but nevertheless provides a good visibility without dazzling other road users. These two lighting modes are complementary, and one or the other is selected depending on traffic conditions. The switch from one mode to the other may be activated manually, the driver deciding the moment at which the switch occurs, or it may be activated automatically, depending on the detection by suitable means of the conditions required for such a change of lighting mode.
As regards the switch from “low beam” to “high beam”, headlamps are known in which a luminous module integrates a movable mechanical element provided to participate in the formation of such or such a beam on request from the driver or the associated control system. Document DE 10 2006 042 749, which is equivalent to U.S. Patent Publication 2007/0070638, which is issued as U.S. Pat. No. 7,524,094, discloses a lighting device for a vehicle headlamp comprising an LED light source and an elliptical reflector in a half-space with two focal points. The LED source is placed at the first focal point of the reflector near the latter. The light emitted by the LED source is reflected by the reflector towards the second focal point where a reflective surface referred to as a deflector is positioned. This reflective surface comprises an edge on the reflector side and an edge on the side opposite the reflector. These edges are what are called “cut-off edges”. One portion of the light beam reflected by the reflector strikes the reflective surface and is reflected depending on its angle of incidence on the surface. Another portion of the light beam passes by the cut-off edge(s) and is not deviated by the reflective surface. The cut-off edge thus defines a boundary between that portion of the beam which is reflected and therefore deviated and the non-reflected portion. A lens is positioned behind the reflective surface so that its focal point corresponds to that of the elliptical reflector. The reflective surface with its one or more cut-off edges is called a deflector insofar as it deviates or “deflects” one portion of the beam with a view to forming a cut-off in the beam emitted by the lens. The deflector is movable along an axis parallel to the optical axis of the reflector. This mobility makes it possible to provide the “high beam” function and the “low beam” function. It will be understood that headlamps of this type require internal to the module a mechanical system that must be of high precision and that involves a substantial manufacturing cost
Moreover, there is a need, in the automotive field, to be able to illuminate the road in front of the vehicle in a “partial road lighting mode”, namely to generate in a high beam one or more dark areas corresponding to the locations of vehicles coming in the opposite direction or vehicles driving in front, so as to avoid dazzling other drivers while illuminating as much as possible of the road. Such a function is called an adaptive driving beam (ADB) or even “selective beam” function. Such an ADB function is intended to automatically detect a road user liable to be dazzled by a lighting beam emitted in high beam mode by a headlamp, and to modify the outline of this lighting beam so as to create a zone of shadow in the location of the detected user. The advantages of the ADB function are multiple: improved user comfort, better visibility relative to a low beam lighting mode, higher reliability mode changing, much lower risk of dazzle and safer driving conditions.